The Good, the Bad, and the Hungry
by QueenReagan
Summary: -Set sometime after You Posted What!- Bree's boyfriend, Tyler, is an escort for a teen pageant in Mission Creek. She doesn't fit his standards, so she falls down a dangerous road. Now, it's up to her brothers to pull her back on the right track. (Family fluff, Adam and Chase being protective brothers, trigger warning?)
1. Chapter 1

*WARNINGS* This story deals with anorexia. If you do not feel comfortable reading about that, I suggest you leave now.

Also, I've done research on anorexia but not everything may be correct. If I'm not describing it correctly or there are incorrect facts in here, I'm sorry. Bear with me, please. I have no clue where this idea even came from, honestly. But here it is and I hope you like it!

"No thanks," Bree said when Mr. Davenport offered her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "I'm trying to eat healthy now and bread isn't on my diet list."

"Then just lick the PB&J off," Adam suggested in a _duh_ tone. Then, he proceeded to tear apart his sandwich and lick one side of the bread. Bree ignored him, as did the rest of the family.

"Why the sudden interest in eating healthier?" Donald wondered as she opened the fridge to retrieve the orange juice.

"Yeah," Chase added, "weren't you _just_ pigging out with Adam and Leo last week?"

Bree nodded. "Yes, and the three-day food baby was a real eye opener. I just think that I need to be cutting back on all the junk I eat every day."

"Well, I think that's a _wonderful_ idea," Tasha encouraged with a smile. Bree smiled back in return and grabbed an apple from a bowl in front of her. Chase shot her a weird look.

"I get the whole eating healthier thing, but are you really going to be eating _just_ an apple for breakfast?" Bree shrugged.

"Yeah, I've not very hungry right now." Her stomach growled then, so she tried to cover it up by loudly crunching into her apple. Nobody noticed, much to her relief. After everybody finished, Donald retreated to the lab while the boys left for school. Bree was right behind them when she remembered something and turned back to Tasha.

"Hey, um, can I talk to you about something?" Bree asked kind of nervously. Tasha nodded her head toward the snack bar as she washed a plate. Bree sat back down and leaned her elbows on the counter.

"What's up?" Tasha asked, looking up at her daughter.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the guys because, well, they're guys, so they wouldn't get it," Bree began. "You remember Tyler, right?"

"Of course. He's cute and always offers to help with the dishes when he's over. I love that boy!" Bree laughed.

"Well, his mom is in charge of the Mission Creek Teen Pageant and wants him to be an escort. He doesn't want to be with some random girl, so he asked me to join. He showed me his suit for the show and, when I went shopping yesterday, I found the perfect dress that matched his suit. It's so pretty and was so comfortable when I put it on… But it's also kind of tight, so even after I held my stomach in so tightly I couldn't breathe, you could still see a little hump where my stomach was. So I'm actually trying to lose weight so I can look better in that dress."

"I understand your determination, but I hope you know that you don't have to be stick skinny to be in a pageant. If you don't like that dress, find another one. I'm sure Tyler will understand if you two don't match completely."

Bree wasn't convinced, but she nodded anyways. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, can you do me a favor and not mention this to any of the guys? I don't want them to get the wrong idea, you know."

"You're secret's safe with me. Now, get to school before you're late!" Bree smiled and disappeared in a blur. Tasha stared at the closed door, thinking about what her daughter just said. She hoped Bree would take her advice and not worry so much about her weight. With a sigh, Tasha returned to her dishes.

•••••

Tyler was waiting for Bree at her locker when she arrived. She smiled and pecked his cheek. As she grabbed her books for first period, she said, "So I found the perfect dress to match your suit yesterday." He leaned against the lockers with a goofy smile on his face.

"Oh yeah? What's it look like?" She pulled out her phone and showed him the picture she took in the dressing room. The dress was a maroon mermaid dress with long, lace sleeves and ruffles at the bottom that flared out. "Wow, that's hot. You look almost as hot as that dress."

"Almost?" Bree asked, taking her phone back.

Tyler shrugged. "Well, I can see your stomach a bit. A dress that hot can't have baby fat showing, Bree. And you know we have to be the hottest couple there that night." He shot her a knowing look. She frowned and looked at the picture again.

"I know," she said sadly. "But I'm working on eating healthier and losing weight."

"Bree, this pageant is in two weeks. I don't think eating healthier is going to cut it. Have you ever tried skipping meals?"

"Skipping meals?" Bree repeated.

"Yeah. I hear it's the most effective way. Or, if you're not _strong_ enough to handle that, just eat, like, crackers or something."

Tyler was a jock, captain of the wrestling team. Strong was basically a requirement if you wanted to be in with him. Bree stuck her chin in the air and smiled, "Good thing I'm the strongest girl around!"

He laughed. "That's my girl. I got to head to math. See you later, babe." He kissed her on the lips before walking away. Bree looked back at the picture. _My stomach is just barely visible. Maybe skipping a few meals wouldn't be such a big deal if I want to just lose a few pounds. How bad could it be?_ She wondered _._


	2. Chapter 2

••••• _One Weeks Later•••••_

Wall. Where'd that wall come from? Step. Step. Whoa, the room is spinning. Bree stood in front of her capsule, holding her head as she tried to steady the room. Chase looked at her funny as he walked past her. Even Adam was aware of how weird she was acting. She took a deep breath and another step, but swayed and lost her balance. Luckily, Adam was there to catch her before she fell.

"Okay, what is going on with you?" Chase demanded. Adam took a small step back with his hands holding her waist to steady her. She silently thanked him. "You've been acting like this for two days."

"Maybe I'm sick," Bree suggested, faking a cough to prove a point. Chase glared at her, obviously not believing her. Adam noticed for the first time how different shook look. Her clothes were baggy on her and she was noticeably skinnier. For the first time in his life, he actually remembered something he learned in school.

"Have you been eating lately?" he asked, stepping around to look at her.

Bree scoffed. "Of course, Adam."

"Really? 'Cause we just learned in health class about this eating disorder called anorexia and you… You have all the symptoms. Don't think I haven't caught you weighing yourself every night."

"You actually remembered something from school?" Bree asked, shocked.

"You actually _paid attention_ in school?" Chase added, even more shocked. Adam rolled his eyes and gently sat Bree down on a stool.

"Tell the truth," Adam ordered, leaning on his knees so he was eye level with her, "when was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday, at lunch," Bree admitted.

"You ate only an apple yesterday," Chase said, his eyes widening. "There's no way that apple lasted you the entire rest of the day."

Bree shrugged. "Guess I wasn't that hungry yesterday. Hey, what's anorexia?" Bree's grade didn't cover a health section, so she wasn't aware of the disorders Adam knew about.

"It's an an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat," Chase explained, stepping in front of his sister. "Bree, we're not mad at you or anything like that. Just talk to us."

"We're gonna be late for school," Bree muttered, rising to her feet. She tried to walk away, but Adam grabbed her arm and sat her back down.

"Nobody's going anywhere until you start talking," Adam declared, looking to Chase who nodded in agreement.

"What about Mr. Davenport?" He'll wonder where we are." Adam smirked and walked toward the elevator. His younger siblings watched as he used his heat vision to burn through the elevator panel and blow a fuse.

"Adam!" Chase exclaimed.

"There, now we couldn't leave even if we wanted to." Adam felt proud of himself as he strolled back to his siblings. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at his sister. "Now you have no choice. Start talking, Bree."

So she recited everything she had told Tasha a week earlier, leaving out the part where Tyler told her skip meals. _We see how well that worked out,_ she thought bitterly. When she was finished, both brothers looked at each other.

"Bree," Adam began with a sigh.

"You don't have to say anything. You're boys, so you'll never get it," Bree muttered, rolling her eyes. Ugh, even rolling her eyes gave her a headache. Her body felt so weak she was amazed she could still hold her head up. Her stomach growled, angry at her for letting it starve for so long.

"You're right, we don't get it. We don't get how you could be dumb enough-" Chase began, but Adam quickly cut him off.

"Chase!" Adam exclaimed, shoving his shoulder roughly.

"Sorry, I'm sorry! I can't handle these… These girly emotions. I'm not good with girly emotions!" Chase rubbed his temples. Adam sighed, rolled his eyes, and shook his head.

"I always knew you were a robot, Chasey. But anyways, Bree, you don't have to go to extreme measures like this to look good in a dress. Why not just look for another dress?"

"Because we have to be the hottest couple there," Bree explained. "He's the captain of the wrestling team, I'm the bionic girl-"

"Whoa, whoa, what does your bionics have to do with _anything_?" Chase demanded. Bree looked at her hands.

"He said they're what makes me unique," she said quietly. Chase groaned.

"Oh my gosh, Bree," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Adam glared at him over his shoulder.

"Chase, that's enough. If you can't say anything helpful, then go stand over there." Adam waved his hand away from them. Chase grumbled under his breath but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

"You guys don't get it. You don't get the expectations and the pressure put on girls. We have to look a certain way, act a certain way, dress a certain way, be skinny, be fit. We have to show skin to avoid being a prude but if we show too much we're a slut. We have to work out to avoid being lazy but if we work out too much it's weird because girls with abs are gross. Society is constantly telling us what we should and shouldn't be in order to be liked in this stupid world."

Adam frowned. "Who said you have to follow society's rules?"

"Me!" Bree exclaimed. "The girl who's been stuck in a basement her whole life! The one who probably looked really strange attending school for the first time! The one who is just learning to fit in! I have too much to lose to risk being different, Adam."

Adam didn't know what to say. He looked at his feet, then over at Chase. "Can you fix that elevator?" Chase was stunned into silence by Bree's words, as well. It took him a moment to process what Adam had said. He nodded and went to work on the door.

"I realize now listening to Tyler was a stupid mistake," Bree said quietly, drawing Adam's attention back to her. "He's just using me for my bionics to make him the coolest guy there. I get it. I wish I could somehow get him back, but I can't. I ruined myself just to please his expectations. I guess he won."

"Not necessarily," Adam argued, an idea forming in his head. "I wonder how safe it'd be for you to binge eat the rest of the week."

"Normally, it wouldn't be a good idea," Chase said, using his bionic hearing to eavesdrop. "Most anorexia cases try to recover by binge eating to try and gain back their way, and continue to binge without stopping. But since she's only been doing this a week," he pressed a button and the elevator dinged, "I think she'll be okay. What are you planning?"

"Yeah, what _are_ you planning?" Bree asked curiously.

Adam pulled her to her feet. "There's only a week until the pageant, right? Well, I want you back to your normal weight. Get a dress you feel comfortable in and one of us will be your escort."

Chase smirked, "I get it now. Oh, but _don't_ tell him! Make it a quick, last minute thing so he'll be dateless."

Bree sighed. "He'll get mad and never speak to me again."

Adam snorted, "So? Let him get mad. You'll look so much better than him."

"But what if I don't get back to my normal weight by then?"

Chase shrugged. "I guarantee you'll still look better than him. But what's the plan for today? I mean, are we going to school or faking sickness?"

"I'm good with the sickness," Bree said with a smile. Chase agreed.

"Sounds like a plan. Ooh, we can even dot our faces with red so it looks like we have the chicken pox!" Adam offered eagerly.

"No we can't because we already did that once when we were younger and didn't want to train, remember?" Bree asked.

"Yeah, and you can't have chicken pox twice in your life," Chase added.

"Hm. Okay, then what about this?" Adam shot Chase's arm with a laser.

"Ow! Adam, what the heck?!"

"We can say we have this rare rash," Adam explained, shooting himself, "that's very contagious and disappears in a day."

"Like he'll ever believe that."

"What if I say the rash makes you look like this?" Bree offered, gesturing to herself.

Chase shook his head. "Then he'd probably get worried and call an ambulance if he believes us, so let's not say that."

"Or I could just break the elevator again," Adam suggested with a shrug.

"I second that," Bree decided. Chase shrugged and gestured toward the doors, as if saying 'Have at it.' Adam bit his lip and grinned happily. Chase and Bree laughed at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Bree stared at herself in the mirror, running her hands down her sides to smooth out any wrinkles. All around her people rushed back and forth with cans of hairspray and shouting orders to contestants. Bree's dress was a two piece with a navy long sleeved lace top and a navy skirt with pink flowers across it. She spent two hours curling her hair and pinning it back into a bun and Tasha helped her with her make up.

Over the last week, she and her brothers (they told Leo on the second day of binging) had been stocking up on all things fattening to try and bump her up on the weight scale. It worked pretty well, bringing her up to only about five pounds below her original weight. Around three days before the pageant, she and Tasha went dress shopping and Bree was satisfied to find a dress that she felt comfortable in.

"Hey babe," Tyler said, coming up behind her dressed in his maroon tux. He smiled at her through the mirror, but frowned when he saw what he was wearing. "Um, Bree, that's not the dress we agreed on."

"No it's not," Bree sighed, turning to face him. "I decided I liked this one more."

"It doesn't match."

Chase showed up then and linked his arm with hers. Adam stepped up on her other side and both boys smirked at Tyler. "Change of plans, Tyler," Chase said triumphantly. "I'm escorting my sister tonight."

Tyler glared. "You can't do that. We've had this planned for weeks, without her-"

"You won't be the coolest guy escorting the bionic girl. Instead, you'll be the loser without a date," Adam finished. A woman walked by, calling for all contestants and their escorts to make their way to the stage.

"Consider this a break up," Bree snapped. Chase winked at him before they headed for the stage. Adam watched them go with his arms crossed over his chest. Tyler scoffed and Adam's eyes fell back to him.

"Whatever, I don't need her anyways. She's been a weirdo ever since she came to this school. I can _easily_ find a better date."

Adam's always been smart about controlling his anger. That's a trait Chase has been working on for years, but to Adam it just comes naturally. With a deep breath, Adam took a step closer to Tyler so the next words could only be heard by the two of them.

He grabbed Tyler's shoulder roughly. "You wanna know the difference between you and my sister? Your fame ends once you graduate high school. Hers will live on because she's a hero and she would _never_ tell somebody to skip a meal because they're not good enough to fit somebody else's standards," Adam growled, his grip tightening on Tyler's shoulder. His super strength kicked in almost immediately and he could feel the bones beneath the skin move under the pressure. Tyler whined in pain and Adam pushed him away.

"If I ever find out you're hurting her again, I swear to God I will not be as forgiving." His tone was low and dangerous. He only ever uses this tone when dealing with people he really truly hates, like when Marcus almost killed Leo. This tone seemed to scare people, even his family (although nobody ever admitted it). He didn't like using it, but it was the best way to get the point across.

Tyler stuttered apologies and defenses, but Adam just stalked off. He counted to ten three times in his head as he walked out a side door and made his way through the crowd to find his family. When he sat down, he was finally calm enough to enjoy the show. And, when his younger siblings paraded across the stage with genuine smiles on their faces, he found himself smiling, too.


End file.
